Tiger Woods has said he will continue to play for as long as he thinks he can still win as he prepares to return to professional golf at this week’s Hero World Challenge.
Woods is teeing it up in the Albany Club in Bahamas this week having not played since injury forced him to withdraw from the Masters in April. The 15-time major winner then had fusion surgery on a bone in his ankle, and since then has only been seen hitting balls on the range and caddying for his son, Charlie.
Speaking a pre-tournament press conference, Woods said: “What drives me is I love to compete. There will come a point in time – and I don’t think I’m there yet – when I won’t be able to win again. When that day comes, I’ll walk away.”
The 47-year-old American said earlier this month he had no issues with his surgically repaired right ankle, which was done to address post-traumatic arthritis following the 2021 car crash that sidelined him for nearly 14 months. However, he indicated that other injury problems remain.
“The only way to fix that was to replace it or have it fused,” Woods said of his ankle. “The next part is the hard part. The six months of doing nothing. The first couple months were really rough – I’m here on the good side now. I don’t have any of the pain I had in Augusta in my ankle. Other parts are taking the brunt of the load. But that surgery was a success.”
Talking about his preparation for this week’s Hero World Challenge, he said: “I’ve played a lot of holes, but I haven’t used a pencil and a scorecard. My game feels rusty. I haven’t played in a while. I’m excited to compete and play and I’m just as curious as all of you are to see what happens.”
Woods said that if he comes out of the tournament unscathed, and his injuries don’t flare up again, he hopes to play at least one PGA Tour event per month in 2024.
He said: “I think the best scenario would be maybe to play a tournament a month – I think that’s realistic. You would have to start maybe at the Genesis Invitational in February, and something in March near The Players. We have it set up in the schedule right now that there is at least one big event per month. Now, I need to get myself ready for all that and I think this week is a big step in that direction.”
Woods has played in just five tournaments since February 2021 and has only completed three of them.